Bush Lifts Ban on Offshore Drilling

By Peter Bauer (Contributing Editor) and Tom Drake (Science and Environmental Analyst)  

On July 14th, President Bush issued a memorandum to lift the executive prohibition on oil exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).  Arguing that Americans are "feeling the squeeze of rising prices at the pump," Bush encouraged expanded domestic oil production. 

With this memorandum, Bush declared that "all Executive Branch restrictions on access (to offshore drilling) have been cleared away" and that "the ball is squarely in Congress's court."

Bush lauded the potential of oil shale, which he claimed could  "provide Americans with domestic oil supplies that are equal to a century's worth of current oil imports."  He further stated the drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would produce the equivalent of "two decades of imported oil from Saudi Arabia."

Bush concluded by saying that "this is a difficult period for millions of American families," and that every dollar spent on fuel costs is "one dollar less they can use to put food on the table or send a child to school."

This sets up as an argument of ‘hard-working-family’ wants vs. the potential catastrophic threat of climate change.  The public’s climate-change fatigue is well documented and with the economic slow down, people are likely to think with their pockets instead of their brains. Bush attempts to balance this by pitching offshore drilling as a temporary solution while America undergoes the transition to sustainable energy sources.

 

There is however a single fact that undermines all aspects of this proposed action: Bush’s own staff, the US Energy Department, say there will be “No significant impact before 2030”!

In reality, offshore drilling on the OCS will have no impact at all on the current rocketing price of oil. Claims that this is merely a supplementary solution as the US transfers to sustainable energy are clearly hollow.

While Bush speaks of ‘America’ finding new oil fields, the reality is that it is large oil corporations will possess the oil and will be selling it into an international market where the price per barrel is dominated by the increasing demand from Chinese and Indian industrialization.

The most significant effect of allowing US off-shore drilling then, will be to make enormous profits for the oil companies.

In order to have a significant impact on prices Americans pay at the pump, the US government would have to implement rather hypocritical Venezuelan-type policies of artificially delivering cheap oil to its own people. This would be contrary to the Bush Administrations proclaimed faith in the free market, and would not make any money for the companies (Exxon, Haliburton et al.) who hold so much influence and lobbying power.

It is also worth noting why drilling off the US coast was banned in the first place. Ironically, it was Bush Senior who first issued the ban in 1990 after the worst oil spill in US history was perpetrated by the poster boy for Big Oil misdemeanors: Exxon Mobile!